Basketballs and Books
by Sketcher1994
Summary: She had to finish for Monday. Normally she was ahead, but of course this was a book she hadn't read yet. The basketball team would choose this Saturday to play outside, wouldn't they? She'd only agreed to lunch because her two male best friends had seemed disappointed when she'd said she couldn't come out. Now she was going to watch basketball – a game she knew nothing about.


**AN: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima!**

 **So, here we have a random one-shot. I'm pretty sure I came up with the idea for this from a prompt, but since I wrote this months ago and have been sitting on it, editing it every now and then, I have no idea what the prompt was anymore :P Anyway, hope you enjoy this!**

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"Basketball? Why don't the two of you just go without me? I'm fine here with my book, promise."

"Come on – it's not often the local team just turns up and starts playing in the park! We've missed it the last two times! Come on, Lev! It'll be fun!" Jet urged, casting a shadow over her book as he stood over her.

"Yeah, you've been reading that all morning and we all know you're going to keep reading it when you get home. How about you come with us? You can still read your book while we're watching?" Droy suggested, sitting back down on the bench next to her as he pleaded with her.

"What's so exciting about it?" She sighed, sliding her bookmark into her book and closing the cover over.

"Yes! Come on!" Jet cheered, starting to jog backwards in the direction of the outside court as she stood up.

"Don't worry, they probably won't be playing long." Droy smiled, getting up to walk along side her. "You can't blame him for getting excited though – we can never afford the tickets and they're not exactly charging people to watch them play here for fun."

"I know." Levy mumbled, looking down at the book in her hand.

She had to finish it for English on Monday or she'd fall behind. Normally she was ahead, having already read most of the books on the syllabus, but this was one of the books she hadn't. The basketball team would choose this Saturday to play outside, wouldn't they? She'd only agreed to lunch because her two male best friends had seemed disappointed when she'd explained about the assignment, telling them that she couldn't come out. Now, apparently, she was going to watch basketball – a game she knew nothing about.

She spotted Jet standing behind the safety fence and waved, glad they'd found him in the growing crowd – was basketball really that popular? Or did they just have a particularly good team? She looked up at Droy, only just catching him suddenly look away from her. What had she done now? She sighed and continued walking up to Jet, pushing her way in front of him – he'd see over her, she wasn't exactly tall.

"Can you tell who the two teams are?" She heard him ask, hearing the grin in his voice – of course she could!

She looked at the ten players bouncing around on the court, laughing with each other as they ignored the onlookers. There were ten men and there were two teams, so there must be five to a team. She checked each of the players for some sort of matching item of clothing or a colour, only to find none. She watched as a man with blonde spiked hair in a purple vest top threw the ball to a man with a strange blue mohican dressed in a blue vest top, over the head of a shirtless man with orange spiky hair. There seemed to be no obvious way to tell the teams apart?

Levy fell back into Jet as a shirtless man with spiked dark maroon hair shoved a man with short black hair into the fence directly in front of her. She heard shouting come from the other side of the tall man with the white vest top and short dark hair, quickly realising the two teams must be arguing over the maroon haired man pushing the man with the short black hair. She watched the man push the other man back before catching the ball and standing at the edge of the court. He threw the ball towards a man with shortish blue hair, only for a tall, dark skinned man to snatch the ball and then start bouncing the ball towards one of the hoops.

Levy paused, rethinking the last few minutes of the game. The man with blonde hair had passed to the man with blue hair, ignoring the man with the orange hair. The man with short black hair had passed to the other man with blue hair, after getting the ball because he'd been pushed by the guy with dark maroon hair. The blonde man, the man with short black hair and the two blue haired men were all wearing vest tops, along with a huge man with white spiky hair that she actually recognised – if she was right, then his sister was in her English class and his name was Elfman Strauss. On the other hand, the man with the orange hair, the man with dark maroon hair and the dark skinned man were shirtless, along with a man with his black hair in a tight bun and a man with...

"Hang on, how can he play like that?!" She exclaimed, watching the man the dark skinned man had just passed to.

"Who? Lily just used his height advantage to snatch to ball? Or do you mean his dribbling was impressive? Or did you mean his pass?" Jet asked, looking down at her eagerly. "That was actually a pretty impressive pass to Redfox."

"...em...I-"

"-YES! Redfox got it! Dreyar's not going to be happy about that!" Jet yelled, cheering with the rest of the gathered crowd.

"Dribbling is when they keep bouncing the ball as they move." Droy answered helpfully, smiling down at her as he clapped.

"Thanks." She muttered, turning back to the game to find the blonde man practically charging towards the other end of the court, quickly passing to Elfman past the man with the tight bun, Elfman easily getting it into the hoop, causing another cheer to erupt from the crowd.

"And Dreyar's team is up one again!" Jet exclaimed, practically bouncing with excitement.

"Ok, so Dreyar's team is the one wearing tops? And Redfox and Lily are on the topless team?" Levy asked, looking up at Droy, hoping he was still paying attention to her.

"Yeah, the guy with the long, black hair is Redfox, and the Lily is the really tall, dark skinned guy. Dreyar is the Captain of the team and mostly plays Point Guard, but Redfox is usually the Shooting Guard. Lily and Strauss are the team's Centres – they usually rotate at half time. Gryder was the guy who got pushed into the fence – he's the team's other Point Guard. You can barely see either him or Dreyar when they really go for it, they're that fast! Seis was the guy that pushed him. He's the Power Forward, along with Seith – he's the guy with the blue mohican?" Levy nodded, following the players as Droy explained who they were. "You might have noticed, but they're a little full of themselves."

"Ok, they're not split anything like what you're describing...? And who are the other three players...?" Levy sighed, trying not to sound confused.

"Yeah, they mix positions up when they play for fun or they'd be able to predict each other's movements too easily and no-one would win. On Dreyar's team, the 'Shirts', there's two Point Guards – him and Gryder – then one Centre – that's Strauss – and he's got a Small Forward and a Power Forward. The Small Forward is Fernandez – he's the other guy with blue hair." Droy explained, pointing at the guy with a red facial tattoo currently 'dribbling' the ball. "Then the Power Forward is Seith, remember?"

"Seith is the guy with the mohican." Levy nodded, quietly pleased with herself.

"Yeah, just don't ask what positions they're playing in today, because it doesn't look like there is _any_ form at all." He laughed, rubbing the back of his head.

"So on the other team is...the Centre 'Lily'...and the Sh-Shooting Guard Redfox!" Levy exclaimed happily before starting to bite her lip as she tried to remember the other players and their positions. "...then there's the...Power Forward?...Sess? Seis? Seis! ...and I don't think you told me who the other two are?"

The crowd erupted again and Levy looked up to watch the guy with the bun hanging from the basket looking smug. She watched as he dropped down and high fived Redfox, both turning to grin at the annoyed-looking Dreyar as Seith clearly tried to tell the Captain that they'd easily make the point back. Lily walked up to the two grinning men and started talking quietly. Levy had a hunch he was warning them to not get ahead of themselves. They'd clearly split the Centres, the Power Forwards and the Small Forwards equally, and if Dreyar had two Point Guards on his team, then there must be two Shooting Guards on the other, right?

"Is the man that just scored the other Shooting Guard?"

"Oh, yeah – that's Groh. They seem to be having a Point Guard vs Shooting Guard match, I guess? Either that or that was by chance. Redfox and Groh seem to be scoring most of the shots on their team, but Strauss was right up at their basket before, so he can't be playing Centre, right? I think they must just be playing random positions?" Droy answered, scratching his head.

"Yeah, what did you expect?! They're just playing for fun! Natsu said they were flipping a coin to decide what team they were going to be on, starting with Dreyar and Gryder. Dreyar was heads, then so was Gryder. Redfox and Groh both got tails, then Fernandez got heads, which was when it became a straight one heads-one tails situation." Jet explained, not looking away from the game.

"Natsu's here? Does that mean Lu is too?!" Levy asked, suddenly slightly less disappointed with her reading being interrupted – if Lucy was there, then she could leave the guys watching the game with Natsu, kidnap Lucy, and come back in an hour, having discussed the book they were both supposed to be reading.

"Yeah, they're just over there. I was standing with them, but we got separated when Gray and Erza arrived – I figured I'd better stand somewhere you'd see me." He smiled, finally looking back down at her.

"Thanks...Would you mind if I went to see her? I could actually discuss the book with her while you're watching the game and then you're both getting to enjoy the game instead of explaining everything to me?" She suggested hopefully, looking between her two male best friends.

"Yeah, sure...I hadn't realised you were that bored...when you started asking questions, I thought you were actually starting to get into it..." Jet replied, looking away from her, his eyes finding the game once more.

"I was actually...but I really need to get this finished." She answered almost apologetically, hoping she hadn't hurt his feelings.

"You need a hand finding her?" Droy asked, offering her his hand.

"It's ok, I'll let you watch the game – I've already made you miss the beginning and explain who everyone is." She smiled up at him, aware of the glare Jet was giving him.

"Droy had to explain everything to me..." Levy groaned, sucking on her straw, her mouth receiving wonderfully cold chocolate milkshake.

"Natsu explained everything to me last time." Lucy smiled understandingly, drawing strawberry milkshake up her own straw.

"I didn't know Lisanna's brother played basketball...that _was_ Elfman, right?" Levy asked, suddenly realising there could be more than one giant man with white spiky hair in the world.

"Yeah, that was Elfman – did you recognise Jellal?" Lucy grinned, pulling her book out of her bag.

"Wait, Erza's boyfriend?! That's what he does?! Do we know anyone else?!" Levy exclaimed, almost choking on her milkshake.

"I'd have thought the blue hair and facial tattoo would have been a big giveaway!" Lucy laughed, teasing her.

"I did see him...but when you're not expecting to see someone, you don't really look for them...Is that why Erza didn't come with us?" Levy asked, trying to cool her cheeks with her condensation-dampened hands.

"Hm, she came to watch him – she hadn't expected us to be there. She only actually bumped into Gray because he was on his way over after Natsu text him to say the team was playing in the park." Lucy replied, laying her book on the table and starting to dig around in her bag.

"Huh, well at least she won't have to stand on her own to watch him." Levy stated, going back to her milkshake. "So was there anyone else we knew?"

"Hmmm, Loke was a couple of years ahead of us...?" Lucy answered, pulling an A5 notebook out of her bag and starting to flick through it.

"I do remember him actually!" Levy burst out before lowering her head again as the other people sitting outside the cafe turned to look at them. "...but I don't remember his last name...what position is he? Oh, and Jellal's the...Small Forward, according to Droy...so Jellal's last name is Fernandez?"

"Loke's the other Small Forward, but I can tell you his name without his position." Lucy sighed, catching Levy's attention. "His name is Loke Regulus. He asked me out a few times, before you ask."

"And now he's a famous basketball player and you regret turning him down." Levy teased, earning a slap to the arm from her female best friend.

"You can't say that I'm indecisive." Lucy returned, a knowing look in her eyes.

"Well, neither am I! I'm actually really happy that neither of them have asked yet...I like how things are now and if one of them asks me out things will change...I don't even like either of them that way..." levy sighed, thinking about the warning glare Jet had given Droy, knowing they'd made some sort of 'deal' without telling her.

"And maybe you should tell them that before either of them does? Even if you just hint?" Lucy suggested, trying to reassure her.

"And then I'd be 'jumping to conclusions', Lu. I can't say anything...I don't want to hurt their feelings..." Levy muttered, running a finger down the side of her glass, wiping a streak in the condensation.

"Then why don't you just as-"

"-Did ya get bored or did the guy behind ya push in?"

Levy spun in her seat, somehow sure the gruff male voice had been directed at her.

"I-I was meeting a friend...so I left..." She lied, staring up at the Shooting Guard who was towering behind her seat.

Why was he here? How had he even picked her out of the crowd?! Actually...how was he allowed to play in the first place? She never did manage to get an answer...? Surely all that long black hair got in the way? And it could definitely do with a brush through it! And she wasn't even allowed to do P.E. without taking out her earrings, so why was he allowed to play with his entire face covered in piercings?! She could see three in each of his ears, not to mention the three over each eyebrow and the three down his nose! His bottom lip even had one – or maybe two, it was kind of hard to tell without pulling his bottom lip down to check the other side!

"Ya don't really look the type to interested in basketball." He replied coolly before a smirk crossed his lips. "And I seen Blondie there too – she was with Fernandez's woman."

Levy's cheeks flushed, realising he'd caught her. What did he want in the first place? Had she offended him? It was none of his business whether she enjoyed basketball or not! So what if she'd found out Lucy was there and decided to drag her away?! They had homework to do! And they never needed an excuse to read a book in the first place and the two of them discussing a book was second nature! So what if she'd left his stupid game to discuss a book!? ...why was she getting defensive? He'd just recognised her and asked if she'd left because she'd gotten bored or if she'd been pushed out of the way. Wait, was he trying to be nice?

"You're the Shooting Guard, right? Along with Groh?" She replied, trying to act as if she knew something about basketball.

"So ya know my position, I'm impressed. Ya know everyone's?" He asked, the smirk still playing on his lips.

"Dreyar's the Captain and he plays Point Guard, along with Gryder. Jellal and Loke are the Small Forwards. Seis and Seith are the Power Forwards. Lily and Elfman are the Centres." She listed off smugly.

"Now I'm definitely impressed, Shrimp." He grinned, looking down at her with two unusually red eyes; by that they had red _irises_. "So ya know Fernandez, Regulus and Strauss, do ya?"

"I-I, em...well, em, Jellal is Erza's boyfriend...and I know Loke through Lu...Elfman's younger sister is actually in my English class..." She answered awkwardly, knowing she'd only met each of them a handful of times, before she realised what he'd called her of course. "And don't call me 'Shrimp'!"

"Ooh, she bites!" He teased, his grin growing wider.

"Gajeel, behave." Levy watched as the dark skinned man appeared from behind the Shooting Guard. "Excuse my friend – I am trying to teach him manners. My name is Peter Lily – I'm Centre with your friend Elfman. And my friend here is Gajeel Redfox." The man smiled kindly, eliciting a smile from her in return. "And what he actually came to ask was if you were ok? He seen that you got quite a fright when Erik forced Doranbolt into the fence – he shouted at them for you, but he wanted to make sure that you were alright."

"Wait, so the shouting _wasn't_ because one of them had forced the other into the fence?" Levy asked, her cheeks flushing once more.

"Gihe, ya jumped a foot off the ground! Ya looked like a normal height for a second!" Gajeel grinned impossibly widely.

"Gajeel, if you don't behave I'll take you back to the court." Peter warned, catching Levy by surprise.

"Is the game still on?" Levy asked, wide-eyed. "Shouldn't you still be there? You were both on the same team!"

"Huh? We decided to have a break – that alright with ya, Shortie?" Gajeel asked, an obvious hint of sarcasm to his voice.

"Ignore him, please." Peter sighed. "He's getting better at playing with others, but manners still aren't his strong point. When he seen you leave, he asked Laxus to stop the game so that he could check on you. He did get some interesting comments from Laxus for the request, but I think even he realised how much of a step forward that was for Gajeel."

"Lil', I'm not that bad, ya know." Gajeel grumbled, folding his arms across his chest, causing more piercings to catch her eye – turns out he even had four along each forearm.

"...well, since he has no manners...can I ask something?" She asked innocently.

"Levy! You can't say that!" Lucy exclaimed, reminding Levy of her presence.

"You may, but you may wish to introduce your friend first?" Peter replied with a grin, which was mirrored by Gajeel as he realised she'd been just as guilty as him.

"Too busy staring to introduce yer friend, huh?" He laughed, causing her cheeks to heat unbearably.

"You-You're the one that interrupted us!" She defended, trying to ignore her painfully obvious embarrassment. "This is Lucy Heartfilia." Levy finished, gesturing to Lucy who was still sitting across the table from her.

"Hi, it's nice to meet you." Lucy smiled, reaching her hand out to Peter. "And this is my friend Levy McGarden."

"Hi!" Levy blurted out, sure her face was the colour of a tomato as Lucy introduced her.

"So the midget has a name!" Gajeel laughed, earning a headshake from Peter.

"Peter Lily, but feel free to call me Lily – everyone else does, including my wife." He laughed, shaking both of their hands in turn.

"Lily? Why...I'm sorry! I was almost really rude to you and it was him who'd been rude...and me, apparently..." Levy began, almost wishing the two men would go back to their game. "When you past to Gajeel earlier, I realised he had really long hair and a face full of piercings...I'm not allowed to do anything in P.E. without taking my earrings out...he doesn't even tie his hair back...?"

"Ah, his hair is usually tied back when we play, but we were just playing for fun." _Lily_ smiled, glancing over his shoulder at the younger man. "As for the piercings, he signed a little piece of paper that says that it's his own fault if one of them gets ripped out during play. Of course, there are some situations where it wouldn't be – if someone walked up to him and purposely ripped out one, for example. Then again, I doubt anyone brave enough to try would actually be capable of it – as I said before, he's getting _better_ at playing with others."

"I can see that." She laughed, aware of the glare that Gajeel was giving Lily.

"We gonna get back or not?" Gajeel grunted, earning an acknowledging nod from Lily.

"Well ladies, it was very nice to meet you, but my friend has a point – our Captain will be wondering where we are." Lily explained, bowing his head slightly to say goodbye.

They called their goodbyes as they watched the two men leave, neither looking back. Levy turned back to her milkshake, quickly realising it had warmed up in the hot summer sun – she didn't dare check her shoulders. She looked up at Lucy who was staring back at her expectantly. What had she done now? She suddenly remembered her book and picked it up, flicking through it until she reached her first post-it note, glancing up at Lucy with a smile as she reached it.

"Well?"

"Well, I thought that this part was particularly interesting – it's the part where-"

"- _NO_! I wasn't talking about the _book_!" Lucy exclaimed, sounding completely exasperated. "I meant the tall, muscular, professional basketball player stopping his team's game to follow you here? To, what was it again? Ask if you were ok? You know, because he does that _every_ time some random onlooker that he's never met before jumps as one of his teammates gets slammed into a fence." She smiled coyly, raising an eyebrow at Levy knowingly.

"What about him, Lu? He probably bought something cold to drink while he was here." Levy replied, taking Lucy's notebook and flicking to the right page. "I see you picked up on this as well, but yo-"

"-Stop trying to change the subject! Come on! He shouted at his teammates for scaring you! If that's not sweet, I don't know what is!" Lucy challenged, refusing to drop the matter.

"He was just being nice. Now can we get on, please?" Levy whined, wanting Lucy to just stop this pointless conversation.

"Which, according to his friend Lily, is out of character!" Lucy returned, leaping up from her seat. "Come on – let's get back to the game!"

"Lu, I really just want to finish this book." Levy sighed, sitting firm as she finished her milkshake.

"Fine, I'll make you a deal." Lucy smirked, causing Levy to drop her forehead onto the table. "If we go back to the game and he acknowledges you, you have to go talk to him when they finish. If he doesn't, then I will sit up all night finishing this book with you and _I_ will buy snacks for us."

"Deal. He's not going to acknowledge me in front of his whole team, so you better get ready to buy those snacks." Levy returned, standing up from the table confidently.

Levy walked towards the fence, moving in the directing of Jet, Droy, Natsu, Gray and Erza – Jet and Droy had clearly moved to find them during the break. She quietly tiptoed up behind Jet and Droy, signally Lucy to be silent. She squeaked as Natsu spun around and pounced on her best friend, giving both of them away, much to her disappointment. She smiled up at her two male best friends, squeezing in between them to continue watching as Natsu harassed Lucy as usual.

"How long have they been back?" She asked, glancing up at Droy.

"Twenty minutes, why?" Jet answered, surprising her.

"Huh, really? I didn't think it had taken us that long to get back..." Levy replied, her hand reaching for the bottle of chilled still water hidden safely in the coolness that was the interior of her bag.

"Yeah, they look pretty tired so I doubt they'll be playing much lon- Oi, oi! Talk about a second wind! Where'd that energy come from?! Their team was lagging two minutes ago! They might actually make up the tw-YES!" Jet rambled excitedly, cheering as Gajeel smashed the ball through the hoop. "They're just one point behind!"

Levy smiled as Gajeel high fived Seis, both grinning smugly towards their Captain who was standing looking completely confused. He seemed to look in her general direction and she gave him a shy wave, her face flushing as he grinned back at her and gave her a wave, much to the amusement of Seis. She glanced up at her two best friends who were looking down at her completely confused, waiting for either to say something.

"So, I hear Redfox came to apologise to you for me." A male voice called from a meter away.

"What?! Lev, Redfox actually followed you?! That's where he and Lily went?!" Jet rushed out while Droy still stood looking stunned.

"That's what I heard." Seis confirmed. "I heard him ask the Captain to call a break so that he could find you after you left – he was pretty determined."

"Levy? Is he being serious?" Droy finally asked, looking between her and the maroon haired Power Forward.

"He came to find me and Lucy...He actually caught up with us at the cafe." Levy replied sheepishly, suddenly becoming very aware of how unusual that would have been for _any_ player at their level.

"Oi! Seis! Leave the girl alone – we're in the middle of a game!"

Levy looked passed Seis to the annoyed looking Captain standing holding the ball in the middle of the court, only to find a suspicious glare now directed at her. She heard someone growl loudly and looked around her, trying to work out what was going on. Her eyes fell on her slack-jawed male best friends, staring in the direction of the studded Shooting Guard. She let her eyes move to her female best friend who was grinning back at her as if she'd just won the Pulitzer Prize for her writing. Well, she'd certainly won the chance to watch her humiliate herself in front of an entire professional basketball team.

Levy stood nervously watching the game, waiting for the last few minutes to pass. She'd actually been seriously following it for the last ten minutes, trying to work out what she should say to Gajeel Redfox, Shooting Guard of the Magnolia Basketball team. This was the first game she'd ever watched and she'd already said everything she knew about basketball to him before – all she knew being the names and positions of the people in his team...she didn't even know what each person did in their positions.

"Laxus! You'll be late for dinner if you play any longer~!" Called a male voice from the far side. "And Elfman, if you're late, Eva will be upset with you, and then the rest of us will have to deal with her anger for the next week~!"

"Right, guess that's time boys!" Yelled Dreyar suddenly, catching the ball as Loke threw it to him. "Make sure you turn up for practise next week – I ain't coming to pick the lot of you up 'cause you can't be bothered getting out of bed! And Redfox, staying up all night with some random girl isn't an excuse!"

Levy found herself hiding behind her hands as she heard the grin in Gajeel's voice as he called something back to his Captain, the blood rushing in her ears preventing her from focussing on his words. Was his Captain meaning her? Or did he have a habit of picking up random girls? What was she thinking? Why had she even assumed she could be the one his Captain had been referring to? That was certainly a pretty big leap from coming to check on her and being a jerk, to spending an entire night with her...an entire night? An entire night doing what...?

"Ya gonna stop hiding?"

Levy's head shot up from her hands, her eyes being met with a hot, sweating Gajeel Redfox only a meter away from her on the other side of the safety fence. She watched him slick back a couple of strands of hair that had fallen forward while he'd been playing, staring back at her with the impressively red eyes...enchantingly red...how could they be that red? How was it even possible to have red eyes? Did he wear contacts? She heard a cough from her left, reminding her of her friends standing around her.

"I-I got...Sorry..." She trailed off, looking away from him, only to find herself looking at Erza's boyfriend watching her as he talked to Erza through the fence.

"Ya got what?" He grinned, leaning forward onto the fence as he spoke.

"Water...It was really hot, so..." Levy tried, aware of all of her friends' eyes now firmly focused on her – buying the water for him had seemed like a good idea at the time, but now it was just weird rather than a good conversation starter.

"For me?" He asked, looking mildly surprised before a grin appeared on his face as she nodded. "Seriously? Thanks, Tiny."

"Will you stop making up weird names for me?! You've already made three for me! You really didn't need to add a fourth! It's not my fault you're always surrounded by giants!" Levy exclaimed, puffing her cheeks out in annoyance.

"Cu-Give me a minute and I'll grab my shirt." He replied, a noticeable pink line gracing his tanned cheeks.

"Sure. Can't have you catching a chill while you're standing there covered in sweat." She smirked, feeling proud of her response.

"Admit it, ya like the fact that I'm standing here shirtless." He returned, embarrassing her again.

Levy turned to face Jet and Droy, refusing to let Gajeel see the reaction he'd gotten out of her. She heard the fence being released from the weight of his body and released her own sigh of relief, glad of a few minutes to get her thoughts straight. All she had to do was hand him the water, comment on how he played, and then she could get out of there. Jet and Droy would let her use them as an excuse to leave, right? They wouldn't make her stand around like an idiot, trying to speak to a complete stranger about a sport she knew nothing about.

"Em, Levy? The gate is over there? Or did you actually want to talk to him in front of all of us?" Levy spun around, surprised by the sound of the normally shy man's voice.

"Oh, em, thanks..." She muttered sheepishly to Jellal, nodding to him before heading in the direction of the gate onto the court, glancing nervously back over her shoulder at Jet and Droy as she left.

"Figured ya'd be less embarrassed away from yer friends." Gajeel grunted as they both reached the gate.

"Thanks." Levy replied awkwardly, pulling the bottle of water out of her bag and handing it to the still shirtless Gajeel, his shirt held loosely in his hand.

"Wow, ya really did get me water...thanks – how'd ya know I'd run out?" Gajeel asked, raising a studded eyebrow at her.

"I didn't. I just figured it was hot and, since you were playing, you'd probably need a drink. It also seemed like a good excuse to talk to you." She replied with a happy smile, unaware of the strange expression that crossed Gajeel's face as she did. "I hadn't actually thought that you'd just come over to speak to me."

"I, eh, I figured I'd better – ya did come back after all." He replied, pulling himself completely upright as he began stretching.

"Are you just trying to show off, or do you actually...need to...you know, stretch?" Levy asked, resisting the urge to watch as his entire torso flexed and relaxed while he did his stretches.

"Yeah, trust me, it's not fun the next day if ya don't, but ya can stare if ya want – ain't anybody else holding back." He grunted, nodding his head in the direction of a nearby group of girls.

"It's rude to stare." She returned loudly, eyeing the girls warily.

"So, eh, what book were Blondie and ya reading?" He asked, avoiding looking at her as she turned to look at him in surprise.

"Oh, 'The Crucible'? We have to finish it by English on Monday..." She replied, hoping he didn't laugh at her for being in high school.

"Huh, I remember that one – the guy has an affair with the girl and the girl and her friends have almost everyone in the village killed by accusing them of having magic, including the man's wife." He replied, opening the bottle of water and downing half the bottle. "The man's name was John Proctor. It was certainly interesting."

" _You_ have actually read it?" She asked, failing to hold back the surprise from her tone.

"Ya got a problem with that?" He replied, raising an eyebrow at her. "I was in High School at one point, Shrimp, and if ya must know, they made us act it out – I was cast as John Proctor."

"Oh wow, you must have had fun with the small children in your class." She laughed, ignoring the glare he was giving her. "I guess I don't have to finish reading it now that you've told me how it finishes?"

"Figured ya'd like books? Ya don't seem much interested in sports?" He asked, pulling his black t-shirt back on over his head, pulling his hair back out the neck of it with his free hand, the bottle still in the other.

"You certainly like to make assumptions, but yes I do like books – hope that's not a problem?" She inquired, looking up at him as they started to walk out through the gate of the court.

"Why would that be a problem? Hell, if ya want, I'll give ya a hand with yer homework?" He mused, jabbing her lightly with his elbow. "At least this one – I got a high A in it."

"Seriously? Wow...and everyone says I'm good at English and my _other_ _two_ languages." Levy replied, giggling as he looked back at her, clearly a little surprised. "Lu is the definitely the better writer mind."

"Blondie's not a Bimbo? Good to know." He smirked, finishing the bottle of water. "So, by Monday, huh?"

"I should maybe have gotten you a bigger bottle..." Levy sighed, realising he must still be really thirsty considering how quickly he'd finished the water. "And yes, I'll probably be taking notes on it all weekend."

"Ah...well, ya know, I really could help Blondie and ya on it and maybe ya'd finish faster?" He suggested, almost sounding hopeful.

"Surely we'll be fine as long as we can finish in time? We're already halfway through." She stated, watching him carefully as they neared her friends.

"Great, then ya _won't_ be busy all weekend?" He grinned, looking straight ahead of them.

"Why?" Levy asked, smiling up at him happily as she began to think about how close she and Lucy were to finishing.

"Ya know...I figured we could, ya know, grab a coffee or something?" He asked, his awkwardness going straight over Levy's head as she continued to think about her book.

"Sure!" She chimed, happy that she'd made a new friend, completely unaware of her friends' expressions as they saw her happy one and even more oblivious to the fact that she'd actually just been asked out on a date.

* * *

 **Hope you enjoyed this! Just some cute fluff for you on this sunny Sunday afternoon!**

This has been the second posting for today! Expect more random updates throughout the day! (I don't have a particular number, but I do have a number I'm aiming for!) ^_^ I'm going back to packing for a while! ^_^


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